Fruit-drying apparatus.



UNr'rnD STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MAHLON A. SMITH, OF LEAMINGTON, CANADA, ASSIGNOR OF TWO-THIRDS TOSAFFORD GRANT MORSE, OF LEAMINGTON, CANADA.

FRUlT-DRYING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION formng part of Letters Patet No. 686,83*7, dated November19, 1901. Application filed November 23, 1900. Serial No. 37.428. (Nomodel.)

To all whom in' may concern:

Be it known that I, MAHLON A. SMITH, a citizen of Canada, residing atLeainington, in the county of Essex, Province of Ontario, Canada, haveinvented certain new and useful parts hereinafter fully set forth, andpointed.

out particularly in the claims.

The object of the invention is to provide apparatus of the characterdescribed in which the arrangement is such as to effect a perfect anduniform drying of the fruit, to turn the fruit automatically upon theconveyer as it passes'through the drying-roon, to eftect economy in thelabor of handling the fruit, and Shorten the time necessary in which toeffect a perfect drying thereof.

The above object is attained by the apparatus illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a View, partly inlongitudinal section, showing a drying-room in which my improvedapparatus is mounted. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section through thedrying-roon, showing a plan View of the mechanisn therein and thedriVing-gearing through which the mechanisn is propelled.

Referring to the characters of reference, 1 designates a drying-room inwhich the conveyers upon which the fruit is deposited for drying arelocated and below which is a suitable hot-air furnace 2, having asmoke-pipe 3 leading therefrom and one or more hot-air pipes 4,withapertures in the upper face thereof, leading from the hot-air space 5 ofsaid furnace and extendiug longitudinally of the drying-chamber.

6 designates the main conveyer, which is of the endless pattern and isformed of wire screen or other suitable fabric. Said conveyer 6 isnounted upon rollers ?and 8, located at the opposite ends thereof andsuitably journaled in the frame of the building, being supportedintermediate the rollers by a series of smaller rollers 9. The conveyer6 is of such Width as to eXtend from side to side of the drying-chanberand is adapted to receive the cut fruit, which is placed upon theforward end thereof, supported by the roller 7, and which is indicatedby dotted lines 10. The forward end of the conveyer extends into asuitable building 11 adjacent the dryingchanber, but separated therefromby partition 12, and in which the work of preparing the fruit for dryingis carried on and into which the fruit after being dried is disch'argcd.

The upper side of the conveyer 6 by means .hereinafter described isgiven a slow rearward movement, so that the fruit deposited therein asit t'avels rearwardly is subjected to the action of the heat arisingfrom the hot-air pipe 4. At the rear end of the con- Veyer 6 are locatedthe supplemental con- Veyers 13 and 14, respectively. The con- Veyer 13describes a triangle and is supported by the rollers 15, 16, and 17,which have sprocket-teeth that eugage the chain margins of saidconveyer. The lower portion of the conveyer 13 extends forward under therear end of the main conveyer 6, so that the particles of fruit fallingfrom the rear end of the main eonveyer will drop onto the upper side ofsaid conveyer 13. The fruit as it drops onto the conveyer 13 is carriedrearwardly thereby and passes under the roller 18, around 'whichconveyer 13 passes and which also holds and supports the lower end ofthe conveyer 14, the upper end of the conveyer 14 being supported by theroller 19, whereby the opposed' faces ot' the conveyers 13 and 14 arebrought adjacent or contiguous, so that the fruit upon conveyer 13 afterpassing under the roller 18 is confined between the opposed faces of theconveyers 13 and 14: and elevated thereby, so as to be discharged overthe roller 19 onto the upper face of the first section 20 of thesectional conveyer, located above the main conveyer G. faces of theconveyers 13 and 14 to travel to- To cause the adjacent IOO gether, therollers 17 and 19 are made to turn in opposite directions; as will bewell understood.

There may be as many sections as desired in the upper conveyer, theupper face in each section of which is carried forward, so that thefruit thereon may be discharged from one section to another, thefinally-dried fruit being discharged from the last section 21 into anysuitable receptacle 22, located in the building 11 adjacent to thedrying-room.

Like the main conveyer 6, all of the conveyers extend from side to sideof the drying-room and are formed of wire-netting or analogous material,so as to aiford a free circulation of hot air therethrough enabling saidair to come in contact with all sides of the cut fruit.

It will be observed that as the fruit is discharged from the conveyer 6and falls upon the conveyer 13 it is overturned, thereby presenting anew surface to the action of the strong upward current of heat, and thatsaid fruit is turned in succession when carried upward in the elevatorand when discharged onto the upper-conveyer section 20 and onto thesection 21. This turning of the fruit makes it possible to effect aperfect and uniform drying thereof, obviating the possible burning ofthe fruit on one side and saving the expense of an attendant oroperator, who, where the old form of a straight conveyer is used, mustenter the dryingchamber and turn by hand the fruit upon the conveyer. Itwill also be observed that by the use of the elevator and the uppersectional conveyer in returning the dried. fruit the length of thedrying-chamber may be reduced nearly one-half, thereby efiecting ecoomyin the Construction of the building and at the same time economizing inthe use of heat, for the reason that the heat which acts upon the fruitupon the lower conveyer passes upward and also acts upon the fruit uponthe upper conveyer.

To prevent the fruit or substance being dried from sticking to theconveyer 6 and following along the under side thereof, a scraper 23 isemployed, which engages the under face of said conveyer at the roller 8and scrapes the fruit therefrom, said scraper being held in contact bymeans of the spring 24.

The main conveyer 6 is driven through the medium of a crank 25, havingon its shaft a pinion 26, which meshes with a gear 27 on the shaft ofthe roller 7, whereby a rotation of thecrank will cause the roller 7 torevolve. Upon the shaft of the roller 7 is a sprocketwheel 28, which isconnected by a chain 29 with the sprocket-wheel 30 on the shaft 31 ofthe roller 8, whereby rollers 7 and 8 are caused to rotate in unison.The rear roller 32 of the upper-conveyer section 20 is connected withroller 8 by means of a gear-wheel 33 on the shaft thereof, which mosheswith a like gear-wheel 34: on the shaft of the roller 8, (shown bydotted linos in Fig. 1,) whereby movement is imparted to the section 20of the upper conveyer, which in turn imparts movement to section 21 bymeans of a sprocketchain 35, extending from a sprocket-wheel 36 on theshaft of the upper roller thereof to a like wheel 37 on the shaft of therear roller 38 of the section 21, the forward roller 39 being connectedto the rear roller of section 21 by means of a sprocket-chain 40.Conveyers 13 and 14 are driven by a geared connection of theirrespective rollers 17 and 19, driven by a chain 41, leading from asprocket-wheel on the shaft of the roller 32.

The operator may readily determine the proper speed at which to drivethe oonveyers in order to subject the fruit to the action of the heat asufficient length of time to efiect a proper drying thereof by examiningthe dri'ed fruit as it is discharged into the receptacle 22. Should thefruit show exoessive drying, the movement of the conveyers may beaccelerated. Should the fruit be insufficiently dried, the movement ofthe conveyers may decreased.

At the base of the drying-chamber are located suitableventilating-openings 42 for the purpose of admitting airin requisitequantities to said chamber, and in the wall of the chamber are windows4:3 for afiording light to the interior to permit of the inspection ofthe drying fruit.

Having thus fully set forth my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a drying apparatus, the combination of the drying-chamber, meansfor supplying hot air to said chamber, the main conveyer located in saiddrying-chamber, the returnconveyer located above the main conveyer, theelevating-conveyers at the rear of the upper and lower couveyersconsisting of two single conveyers, a portion of whose faces run contiguously, one of said elevating-conveyers passing around rollers arraugedin a triangle to cause its ends to embra-ce the ends of the upper andlower conveyers and means for imparting movement to said conveyers.

2. Iu a drying apparatus,` the combination of a drying-chamber, alowerconveyer located therein, extending horizontally, an upper conveyerlocated above the lower conveyer consisting of a plurality ofindependent sections having overlapping ends, an elevating-conveyer forcarrying the substance from the lower conveyer to the upper conveyer,said elevating-conveyer consisting of a double con 'veyer formed of thesingle conveyers, whose inner faces travel contiguously, one of saidsingle conveyers extending under the rear end of said lower conveyer toreceive the substance therefrom.

In testimony whereof I sign this specifica tion in the presence of twowitnesses.

MAHLON A. SMITH.

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